August 4th - tenzakar ta ma ten3ad

Artwork by Tarek Chemaly

I can't remember who came up with it. It was a campaign on television launched for the commemoration of the Lebanese war (April 13th) and it was a riff on the local expression "tenzakar w ma ten3ad" (let it be remembered and not repeated) which became "tenzakar ta ma ten3ad" (let it be remembered SO THAT it would not be repeated). Again, apologies I do not have the original campaign, or the original graphics, or any online source as to who did it or exactly when.

I honestly do not feel like a "survivor" from that day, maybe because I spent the whole long war surviving so much it became living as such. I understand the trauma caused by the explosion, specifically to those who did not live the war as such. You may want to revisit my recollections of that day here.

Am alive damn it. Alive, you hear?

Peek-a-Boom from Wezank, Mira could be all of us.

So Wezank actually were busy throughout 2020 - what started as a "self-therapy" ended up a 5-minute film with one foot in the future and the other in the past. And not just any past. I have previously spoken about the August 4th 2020 explosion and how I was about to die twice (here), and for Wezank it is the story of Mira which made the event. Sure, Mira is fictional. Or is she? Because she could have been anyone of us, or all of us combined into one single character. Or Mira could be the city at large, Beirut in itself, a city which I once said resembled a snake which sheds its skin periodically to be able to go on being alive (here).

Just be aware, the "simplicity" of the film is deceiving, because it holds too many layers and too many interpretations and too many nuances. For anyone who has lived through this event, it might be a little too "triggering" but worth the watch here.

Feer McQueen says Beirut smells of hope rather than toxic fumes.

So apparently Beirut smells like hope according to Feer McQeen.

No, really. Hope.

Ok let's recap. Yesterday was the second commemoration of the infamous August 4 explosion which destroyed major fragments of Beirut. Each one of us reacted differently - some still traumatized, some barely recovering, others faring much better (after a short bout of PTSD and having lived the whole 1975-1990 war in Lebanon I reacted better than most knowing I cheated death twice that day).

Still, if Beirut smells like anything - apart from the silly "vibes" everyone was posting on Instagram and Tiktok (mainly expats here 2 weeks " trois petits tours et puis s'en vont" as the song says) - it definitely, NOT of hope.

Electricity is barely existent and the generator rates are through the roof. People are reluctant to turn the AC on because it might end up costing - literally - a fortune. Banks are still holding our money hostage and this applies to people in the capital as well. Inflation is in the triple digits (250 times!). I need not go on. But hope does not factor in the equation.

Worse, the silos (which have shielded part of Beirut from total destruction) and which many people have called for their preservation as a monument have been disintegrating - ironically, a part of them fell almost to the minute on the day of the second commemoration (another part had fallen a few days earlier).

So photoshopping a green tree on the top of an old photograph of the silos as they appeared post-explosion and claiming that Beirut smells - not of noxious fumes (which environmental experts have been cautioning about) - but of "hope" is honestly, borderline insulting.

On "the gesture" by Nadim Karam

First, a disclosure: I know Nadim Karam personally, I probably was the first person to interview him when he did his magnificent exhibition at the Sursock Museum T-Races BSC4791 in 1994, and I was actually invited to the opening of his muse.um in Daroun (because he lives 5 minutes way from my house).

The reason I am disclosing this is because of "the gesture" (entitled in Arabic "al mared" or the giant) the statue that has been erected from steel and metal debris from companies who donated them to the Karam atelier to build the structure. Everyone is up in arms about it. Really, from all angles - it is ugly, it is political, it was unveiled on August 4th the one-year date of the tragic event, it was erected when there is still no one accountable for the loss of so many lives and so many people injured without even factoring the people who lost their homes and livelihoods.

Karam was very clear that no official or governmental sponsorship was involved in making "the gesture", it was his donation to a wounded city. And honestly, esthetics is a very variable and personal thing. When Karam brought his iron wrought sculptures for his first exhibition, no one was there for the esthetics of it - but I still have to find anyone capable of using space like he did. One sculpture was actually on the top of the building next to the museum (beat that if you can). 

Take the muse.um for example. Even Karam himself said it was a space with no definite function - if you find one, please do tell me what it is. And yes, for all its intricacies muse.um exudes emotions. With its stairs, pseudo-labyrinths, its openings onto landscaped surfaces, inconvenient passages and inner spaces for Zen gardens. That space moves you.

But if I go back to "the gesture", I think - esthetics or lack of it, grandiose or not, recycled materials or new ones - perhaps it is the timing that sort of bothers me. It reminds me of late PM Rafic Hariri when he allowed the families of people who were kidnapped or disappeared during the war to declare them dead in order for them to be able to tackle the inheritance related to these people, not understanding that the families of such people wanted "closure" above all - not tackling said inheritance.

Remember, the port is still a crime scene, no one was declared guilty over what happened, actually we still do not understand exactly what happened. And for this, the wound is still open.

Maybe in a few years, we would appreciate "the gesture" - but right now we are still bleeding.

LAU Medical Center-Rizk Hospital August 4th video: Where less is more.

So as I said previously, anyone who is anyone wanted to commemorated August 4th... There were too many videos to count - most of them corny, repetitive, lowest-common-denominator creative and so on. I spoke about the super video of the Sagesse Achrafieh and stand by every syllable of my writing (here). My issue is that everyone wanted to get "emotional", "creative", "different" while falling into the same trap of the repetitive expressions, imagery and - heaven help us - "hope". Which is why the LAU Medical Center-RIzk Hospital video, like the Sagesse, stands out. It has that efficiency one links to hospitals. Worse the efficiency one links to hospitals Emergency Rooms when a disaster has struck. It says what it wants to stay swiftly, smartly, with an economy of words, with images of people who have no time to look at cameras and who most likely recorded the scenes on the go that fatidic night of the 4th when medical staff was just working, doing its best, hoping for the best but also expecting the worst. I really love how everything is orderly, emotional but not too much, and honestly it works! See the LAU Medical Center-Rizk Hospital here.

College de la Sagesse Achrafieh - and this is how we do it!

Except for one year when we were in a different locale, I have spent all my school years at Sagesse - Achrafieh. Which is why the video for the rehabilitation of the locale following the Beirut blast is doubly moving. Sadly I was unable to locate the agency that did it. What I loved the most, apart from the archival material, is how understated but very punchy it all is. In case you do not know the building itself which houses the classes and administration has an iconic architecture (so much that when they did the club for the graduates across the road, they tried to replicate that same architecture). On all accounts, too many names passed by that place, and as our Arabic teacher used to say "the walls whisper to you what to do". The copy of the video is flawless and the delivery is perfect (turns out it was my friend Patrick Chemali - no relation - who was behind the voice off delivery!), the images moving but with a very dignified visual tone. You can see the full video here.

Beirut is talking again - post financial crash and post explosion

Photo by Tarek Chemaly

Beirut is talking again. For a long time, the city was "mute". Believe it or not it happened before the explosion of August 4th. Something was odd, whatever Beirut was regurgitating was forumulatic things - through its walls and alleys and its whole sentiment and being. A long time ago (in 2008) and in an interview with a Swedish newspaper, I said "Beirut is like a snake, it needs to shed its skin periodically" - not caring who or what it hurts in the process.

Yes, Beirut is a treacherous entity. Schizophrenic, with different personalities cohabitating all at once, and as I said, all of them stopped talking at the same time. As if there was this whole new modus operandi being reworked, to sound cliché, a matrix being reloaded. But when I went to Beirut on Saturday for my first vaccine dose (yay!), I noticed something different about it - it was regaining life. Again, to be cliché once more, I am quoting Star Trek: "There's life Jim, but not as we know it".

When I say Beirut is regaining life, it is not the life "before". It is different than what was happening... before the financial crash and how it redefined socio-economic classes (see here) or the explosion which also targeted all strata of the society (see here). I know you might say I am just imagining this. Life is life after all. No, it is not. Not when the whole population went through the same trauma at the same time for the same reason, when already two prior generations (or more) had their war trauma undealt with.

Beirut (and Beirutis) is (are) still redefining itself (themselves) post-explosion and post-financial crash - and it is happening consciously or not. To quote that exceptional break up song by ABBA When All Is Said and Done, the city and its inhabitants are "slightly worn, dignified, and not too old for sex".

Nothing like a financial crisis, a pandemic, and an explosion to make a city reassess its identity. 

Johnnie Walker: Platitudes galore

Where does on begin? Johnnie Walker just unleashed a prepackaged, lowest common denominator, cliche filled ad - oh and the whole ad has one (ONE!) person wearing a mask! Everyone else is without it. Before I go on, perhaps you should see the ad here! Apparently, we have "resilience" and that people "deserve the best" and that "from rock bottom we have risen up" and "the city breathes again". If anyone is willing to mistake Beirut - the damaged, the shuttered, the pseudo-empty, the shell of its former self - with Lalaland, Johnnie Walker would be it. Many many brands have ridden the motivational wave, but at least there was "some" logic in it, but going back to Johnnie Walker, all I can do is quote The Eagles' "Hotel California" with "some dance to remember/some dance to forget" - and this applies to drinking in a city that is currently under the weight of a "perfect storm" where all elements are feeding on one another. And please spare me the "keep walking" because at this stage we are a populace that is "walking wounded".

Joe Andoun and a Kafaesque call for justice

And there are those who still believe justice will be done. Which in Lebanon is like waiting for Godot, or to quote late singer Leonard Cohen "the Maestro says it's Mozart/But it sounds like bubble gum/When you're waiting/For the miracle, for the miracle to come". I wrote about how I almost lost my life, not once, but twice, on the day of the mega August 4 explosion in Beirut - but there are those did lose their lives. And their families and loved ones are still in flux with no closure. Which brings us to the ad plastered on a billboard on Dora about Joe Andoun, one of the victims of that blast.

"9 months since the death of my brother, and the father and the son, Joe Andoun" and on the other side "more than 200 victims at the Beirut port explosion, we shall not remain silent on keeping the murderers free, we invite the legal system to punish the murderers" - a small research would lead you to conclude that the person who placed this is none other than Elie, late Joe's brother. Truly, one can only sympathize with these families who out of nowhere and in split of a second saw their world turn upside down, those who lost dear ones, or their properties - as I said prior, the explosion was the great social equalizer. All socio-economic classes were hit - whether we want to admit or not.

Again, that ad above, wishing for a swift justice, seems both - too sincere and too Kafkaesque, in a country where everything gets swept under the carpet. But to quote that witty Swedish doctor who said to me "at least you have nice carpets there!".

SuperJoe by Samah El Kadi, authenticity in the age of one-size-fits-all

SuperJoe by Samah El Kadi. Films keep coming (and coming, and coming) about the aftermath of the Beirut explosion on August 4th 2020, most of such low quality they are somewhere between one-size-fits-all and "seriously?". Which is why this film, for all its authenticity, seemingly low budget, very authentic lead (Joseph!), and basically what seems to be real (non-scripted) intervention by the protagonist, actually works wonders. This is how the film is presented:

"Joseph Sleiby escaped the Beirut blast miraculously and heroically at his grandparents house in Karantina. This film is for him and all the other kids who are still traumatized by the blast and on their way to psychological recovery. Berytech Foundation is raising funds for the benefit of the entrepreneurship ecosystem and those that have been severely hit by the August blast. For those who can, please visit the link in bio to donate. Beirut Keep Rising films are created by Balkoon TV, produced by The Talkies, in collaboration with Wondereight."

Please see the touching effort here.

Securite Assurance, or the never-ending Beirut explosion saga

Securite Assurance is "covering damages from the Beirut blast - because we're here for real" and then in much small font "terms of initiative apply" - because of course, there is always a smaller font! Still, whereas the world has passed on to new crises, Beirut is still reeling from the effect of the August 4th blast. Also, the image above of the house whose ceiling was lavishly decorated but which has basically bore the brunt of the explosion only testifies to what there is on the ground. That this ad comes right bang on Christmas/New Year's week only joins other such ads (I already spoke about this prior here and here). With too many problems Lebanese are drowning in, even those affected by the blast might shrug at the sight of such an ad.

A Medco Beirut tribute that actually works.

Ah the Beirut tributes! After the explosion so many brands rode the bandwagon of sending tributes to the city - most bland, several of them not sincere, others bordering the horrific (here's looking at you Pepsi!). Which is why, at times, the low-key ones are actually the one that work best. Take this spectacular Medco example - blink and you'll miss it. Medco still sticks to its Arabo-Latin transcription. Which makes the two flags read "forwad! for the sake of Beirut" - the 2021 has a peace dove in it instead of a zero. I personally really love it - maybe the idea they did not plant it in front of everyone's nose is what it makes work, as it comes off sincere rather than show-off. 

Picon does a one size fits all post explosion ad

Picon just pulled its post Beirut explosion ad, emphasizing to how many NGOs and associations it gave its products to. Mind you, being a spread cheese which you can easily roll in a sandwich or an Arabic bread, it makes sense for it to distributed. The ad though, is filled with predictable visuals, which is fine. But honestly, the faux sentimental copy which accompanies it (with truly silly references to "teta" and "jeddo") is beyond irritating (for comparison for a staggeringly beautiful copy please refer to One Act). Honestly, the copy is so one size fits all it could have been any brand, not just Picon, since the majority seem to be adopting this pinch-me-till-I-cry tone. See the ad here.

A trick on how to survive 2020

Artwork by Tarek Chemaly

Am going to start this post with an admission: I have had it with my European friends and their first world problems. Only yesterday a friend in Vienna was complaining that he had to show his ID at the border and answer questions as to why he was travelling. I wanted to tell him about how last time, after grueling bureaucracy I got my work visa to Europe only to be put in a glass chamber in front of all the airport for no reason at all for 45 minutes. But honestly, what is the point? 

Europeans have no clue how bad 2020 is for Lebanese people. It is exponentially bad. I have called it before, the "perfect storm" (whereas I was talking about the advertising sector, same can apply to the country at large). 

Capital controls? Check. Political meltdown? Check. Devastating explosion? Covid-19? Unemployment? Poverty? Check, check, check. The list is astronomically long. And all elements in it feed on one another. I spoke to someone the other day, and he asked me if the Dollar was going to go back to 1500 Liras. I tried to make him understand that we are currently paying that peg with the current crisis. His brother was certain that we were going to get money - as in huge quantities of money - from Europeans, particularly France. I did not have the heart to poke his dream. And again, the more you talk to people the more fallacies you hear, and the more the scenarios are outrageous.

Yet one thing I learned about 2020, is that, by hook or by crook, one needs to survive it. Like everyone else, my money is stuck at the bank (unlike everyone else, I believe long term thinking will solve it). Like everyone else COVID-19 has changed my daily routine (unlike everyone else, due to diabetes and common sense, am taking it very seriously. Or as I mentioned earlier, it was not the original hysteria which broke out that got me worried, but rather what would happen later.) Like everyone else I was about to die (twice) on the day of the Beirut explosion (unlike many, I escaped unharmed). Like everyone, I have made it to October pseudo intact (unlike everyone else, I know how taxing this is on mental health, admit to it, and have tried to to amend to it as much as humanly possible).

Well, so what is my magic trick to survive 2020? From the get go, I stopped comparing it to previous years. Everything: The Dollar exchange rate, the bank withdrawals or lack of it, the new normal (or rather abnormal), the price of things, etc... I keep reading all these people ranting on Instagram - two specific people come to mind - who have zero economic vision, no financial knowledge, and yet who act as moral arbitrators and assign the blame on anyone who is anyone, not understanding their ranting - though popular on Instagram - is actually hollow.

But once you stop comparing, once you go on living as you used to (within one's means), once you do not see today's pricing in the view of last year's economy, once you accept that this is a tricky phase where one must "make do and mend" (literally, I found, not one, but two great tailors in a city nearby), once you understand that subsidizing the fuel must end because it is eating away what is left if the central bank's Dollars... Only then will 2020 make sense to you.

But again, once you stop comparing. Once you readjust your expectations to reality, you will end up surviving 2020. With three months to go, that is no mean feat.

Optique et Vision nails the post Beirut explosion

Optique et Vision nails the post Beirut explosion ad. One of the hardest things to do for any brand is to insert is product in any event. Worse, when the event is as catastrophic as the August 4th Beirut explosion, the treatment needs to be delicate and very subtle, as otherwise it means the brand is profiting from other people's suffering. Optique et Vision rose to the occasion brilliantly with their "hand in hand we will r-eyes again". Simple, dignified, winks to their area of expertise all while being uplifting and upbeat. Seriously, what more can one ask for from an ad?
 

One Act, normal humans at their best

Why is it some things work, others not? Take One Act - they define themselves as:

"Let's take the time to thank the unsung heroes of Lebanon whose #OneAct has made a huge difference during these challenging times. Let's make sure that their kindness doesn't go unnoticed. Whether it is supporting people during the economic crisis, helping through COVID-19 or providing relief after the explosion, the ordinary people of Lebanon are taking action every day to help the country back on its feet." Apparently they are an offshoot of Search For Common Ground (An NGO working to end the violent conflict in Lebanon through conflict transformation. It’s our purpose — our call to action.)

The One Act ad left me gasping for breath (see here), just normal people talking about other normal people who stepped up to the plate and rose up to their human values. Humans helping humans in their time of need specifically after the August 4 Beirut explosion, without fanfare, without overdoing things. Or to go back to the Atlanta Games Nike Air zoom launch ad: "tell us what us, tell uh s what it does, and don't play the national anthem while you do it" - except what these people did, was heart-wrenching.

Roadster too cliché to be called cliché....

Roadster Diner has a new ad.

Watch here.

Done throwing up?

Wow. Really. Not even cliche. All the pinch-me-to-cry-because-am-patriotic images are there.

The woman playing piano in her bombed apartment, the man cleaning up debris on his wheelchair, the flag, the blond and the veiled woman, and so on. Do note, Picasso used them with dignity and gracefulness engulfing them in a serene and proud ambiance. Here they appear cheap, silly and certainly out of context. Why is it some people do not learn when to stop? Especially when using other people's suffering for exhibitionist-voyeuristic purposes. The ad ends with #sharethelove because you know, the concept of the ad is "we share everything". 

Seriously, somewhere in the museum of cliché ads someone is laughing hysterically!

 

Pampers celebrates miracle baby George Khnaisser

Pampers Arabia celebrates the birth of George Khnaisser, the boy whose mother went into labor literally seconds before the August 4 explosion. He ended up being born at 7:18 P.M. that night. Watch the full ad here. Well, this being a paid ad how about some CSR on the side? Because Pampers insists it gave away a million diapers for free to the children of Beirut.

Now the ad has a nice copy, except for the 'heroes in blue" bit, uses the real footage of the hospital explosion, which adds a nice touch. Georges and his parents are all photogenic and easy on the cam too. OK the whole narrative centers around children being a beacon of hope in dark times, and it actually works.

Picasso and the heroes of the Beirut blast

Pikasso does it again... In a campaign that spans six visuals, from the man sweeping debris on his wheelchair, to nurse Pamela Zeinoun holding three premature babies and running 5 kilometres to get them to safety, to the woman who would not leave her house after the blast, to the one praying, or the Red Cross, or the man standing in defiance in the rubble. Moving, proud images that encapsulate silver linings within that enormous destruction that occurred.

I know finding positive things is farfetched, but this seems to be a Lebanese specialty.

Free Patriotic Movement incomprehensible campaign

To be a Aounist is a pride nit an accusation. So says the hashtag of this incomprehensible, unfocused campaign that lacks a concept, a clear target audience and a backbone. Honestly, it is bewildering. The three visuals follow the same structure, one asks a question only to be given a redemptive answer. And the silly tag beneath.

"What if he did something to you?" "No he is a Aounist he has morals"

"What if he cheated you?" "No he is a Aounist I trust him"

"What if he judged you in your sect?" "No he is a Aounist he has no sectarianism"

Aounist means follower of (now president) Michel Aoun. Or sympathizer/member of the Free Patriotic Movement. If the campaign is redemptive, why does it come off so negative? If it is targeted to the sympathizers why does it miss the mark? 

Honestly, too baffling to explain!